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POLITICO 44

A libertarian-leaning Republican who supports gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana, Johnson occupies much of the same political space as Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who ran in 2008 and is considering another bid. Starting a campaign in April could provide such backdrops as the April 15 Tax Day and the annual April 20 push for legalizing marijuana.

To date, he has mostly been coy about his presidential aspirations. He’s one of the few presidential hopefuls with no political action committee and has raised money instead through his nonprofit group, Our America Initiative. That organization can accept unlimited contributions but cannot fund a presidential campaign.

Since launching Our America Initiative last year, Johnson has traveled the country — with a focus on the early voting states — speaking about the economy, civil liberties and the need to reduce entitlement spending.

Though frequently compared with Paul, the libertarian movement’s closest thing to a standard-bearer, Johnson has been distancing himself from the comparison. While they’re both libertarians, Johnson said, his reputation as “Gov. No” is different from Paul’s moniker “Dr. No.” He has emphasized his record as a governor who was prolific in using his veto pen.

“There was a big difference between Ron Paul and me when it came to the ‘no,’” Johnson recently told POLITICO. “His ‘no’ was philosophical. It was reasoned. It was right. My ‘no’ actually put a stop to legislation. It cut spending. Mine carried further than just ‘no.’ I had to follow through with the debate, discussion and dialogue on why my ‘no’ wouldn’t result in people starving, schools being shut down and the delivery of services to the poor wasn’t going to be curtailed.”

Readers' Comments (31)

This guy is going the rock the republican race like you would not believe. He reflects, I believe, the political and cultural face of an emerging bloc of republicans, who basically have libertarian attitudes about most "social issues"

He favors legal marijuana, so do many baby boomer wall street types, who have a pack of zig zags and some herb stashed in their offices or cars. He favors legalized prostitution, as do a whole bunch of horny married men, who would love to have a little adventure, with no worries about the puritan taliban giving them headaches.

He is a real, gut-level anti-corruption crusader, a la Sarah Palin or Ron Paul. He is very smart, articulate and very wide-ranging intellectual interests. This is gonna be one wild repub primary season.

Too bad it is a futile effort. Unless the economy tanks, world war III breaks out, and watching soccer is made mandatory, Obama will be re-elected. And maybe even if watching soccer IS made mandatory.

ObombO is turning out to be such a disaster that Republicans are coming out of the woodwork, in a free for all to win the nomination. It's like a scrum, and it will only get worse for ObombO. We now know that the rebels in Libya, that ObombO isproviding close cover air support for, are Al-Queada fighters and their sympathizers. So, while we have 135,000 troops, at a cost of $30 billion a year, fighting and dying in Afghanistan against Al-Queada, ObombO now has 135 warplanes and ships supporting Al-Queada in Libya. The only real questions for ObombO are when should the impeachment trial begin? Or should we simply put him on trial for treason? It all depends on whether ObombO knew about Al-Queada or if he and his entire administration are guilty of gross negligence.

Gary Johnson is a real person without pretension. He made his money in construction. His office door was really open as governor. He trained for triathalon and worked his way back from a serious injury. It will help the Republican Party to have the Governor as part of the conversation.

ObombO is turning out to be such a disaster that Republicans are coming out of the woodwork, in a free for all to win the nomination. It's like a scrum, and it will only get worse for ObombO. We now know that the rebels in Libya, that ObombO isproviding close cover air support for, are Al-Queada fighters and their sympathizers. So, while we have 135,000 troops, at a cost of $30 billion a year, fighting and dying in Afghanistan against Al-Queada, ObombO now has 135 warplanes and ships supporting Al-Queada in Libya. The only real questions for ObombO are when should the impeachment trial begin? Or should we simply put him on trial for treason? It all depends on whether ObombO knew about Al-Queada or if he and his entire administration are guilty of gross negligence.

Ah yes the republicans, For helping Libya till they were against it.Support our troops!

All the same could be said about the last republican prez.

Johnson stands no real chance against the likes of Bachmann, he ought to quit while he's a "HEAD".

Gary Johnson, granted he has little to no chance of winning, has to be one of my favorite candidates in the race. A real conservative would favor legalization of marijuana & gay marriage, b/c government shouldn't be controlling who we marry or what we do recreationally at parties. He is so much better than the current GOP field. Obama's going to win reelection w/ the current embarrassing Republican field.

Gary Johnson a RINO? Hardly. Just because his stances on social issues is common sense like most people (face it - very few of us are holy rollers who want to overturn Roe v. Wade and ban gay marriage nationwide) doesn't make him some wishy-washy liberal Republican. McCain displayed some very liberal positions on important issues that affected spending (supported an early government takeover of health care, voted for TARP, favored amnesty, etc.). On fiscal issues, Johnson couldn't be further away from McCain. Look at the way he governed New Mexico - they called him "Gov. Veto" because he repeatedly prevented unnecessary expansions of government and spending increases. And he never increased taxes once during his 8 years in that office. You definitely can't say that about Mitt "Father Of Obamacare" Romney or "Tax Hike Mike" Huckabee. As President, he is the only candidate who can be trusted to reform our entitlements, audit the Federal Reserve, and cut spending EVERYWHERE ... and yes, that includes Republican sacred cows like defense spending. If he has the right people behind him, he's got a shot at being the nominee, and he can definitely do something that Romney or Palin would be unable to do: defeat Obama.

Johnson Seems more like an Eisenhower Republican than the rest of this field... mmmm, maybe I should learn more about this one, huh?

Wonder if he is bold enough to take this NASA-moment on Jobs & Energy linked to the New SDE/Israel Port of Jaffa's Tidal Power Station .... Independents don't really care which Political Party ...We just Want The Solutions

Sidebar (For Johnson's Folks): Israel has already built (w/SDE) a whole New Energy Source Technology Sector with in-house manufacturing for a Flotation Panel Collection of TIDAL Flows (instead of underwater wind turbines= sea life friendly) used in their New Power Station @ Port of Jaffa.

Note: [Customer cost= 12 cents per Kilowatt / Built for 650K = Cheaper than all the rest & Safer than all the rest]

New Mexico's Johnson trying to replace our Kenyan Johnson. We have plenty of Johnson's in Washington now and don't need any more. I'll be glad when real people start running for office. We desperately need a real president that does not pander to the druggies and other deviates of a good society.

Gary Johnson is someone I would absolutely love to vote for. But chances of his winning nomination are slim, very slim. Libertarian, fiscally conservative and moderate voter will probably do better by not splitting the primary vote and supporting Mitch Daniels, or may be Jon Huntsman. On the other hand, an educational campaign, in the vein of Ron Paul's in 2008...tempting.